Re: [gnugo-devel] Non-passing Go?

[bump]

> For the purposes of training a machine learning algorithm
> against GNUGo, it would be useful to be able to force
> GNUGo to make the best move available even if it wants
> to pass.  In other words, the game should be allowed to
> play out even if GNUGo determines that it is effectively
> over.  This is particularly a problem on small boards.
> Is there an easy way to force GNUGo to place a piece in
> the best available position without passing (perhaps
> through making appropriate library calls)?  

Normally GNU Go will fill all liberties before passing.
Further play beyond this point loses points unless you
use Chinese rules (area counting). If it passes, it 
believes that any move it plays is inside either its
own territory or the opponents, unless there is a seki
on the board.

Try starting GNU Go with the parameter --play-out-aftermath,
which sets the the global variable play_out_aftermath to 1.
(Or add a library function that you can call from your
engine to accomplish this.) Then genmove will generate moves
to remove dead stones even if the game is really over. This
means that GNU Go will play inside its own territory. If you
combine this with --chinese-rules that should not affect the
score.

> Unfortunately, calling
> 
> gnugo_genmove(move_i, move_j, WHITE);
> 
> results in many passes, sometimes even after black has
> only placed one stone.

This could mean that GNU thinks there is no way to live
on the board. I don't think this should happen with board
sizes >= 9. What board size are you using?

Dan